Thank You
by Chrisii
Summary: When Marco drops unconscious after a fight, the whole crew wait anxiously for the Phoenix to wait up. Thatch, Ace, Marco friendship! Give the story a chance please people :) ! Disclaimer : I don t own One Piece or its characters!


It was a normal day on the Moby-Dick. Several people were moving all over the deck, mopping it in the process while others were in the kitchen, preparing food for the large family. Several man of the crew were navigating the ship, while another group were on guard, surveying the seas around for any sign of enemy ships. Everybody was happy on that ship and everything was going fine, that was until two of the sons came tumbling out of the door, chasing each other. The one in front had a terrified look on his face while the other, which happened to be Fossa, was furious. It became quite clear what was terrifying the younger crew-mate. Fossa was wielding a large sword, which was aflame and he was swinging it madly. In less than 3 minutes everybody was around the two crew-mates except for their Captain, who was probably inside. Marco, Ace and Thatch were on the front, watching the fight with great interest. The younger crewmate, whose name turned out to be Nigel, was avoiding every attack and keeping a safe distance from the aflame sword. That was until Fossa got in a good swing and Nigel`s shirt caught on fire, scaring the young lad greatly. He jumped up and removed the blue t-shirt to avoid catching fire to his entire chest before fleeing to the sidelines.

That's when Marco decided to step in. It didn`t bother him as long as it was a harmless fight, what angered him was why Fossa had decided to attack him that brutally. He could clearly see the anger in the much larger man, starting from the tense shoulders as well as the slightly darker than usual eyes. But Marco wasn`t scared of the angered man, he knew he was stronger than him, especially considering that Fossa was fighting with anger, the worst thing to fight with. He easily dodged the attack, then delivered a few kicks of his own. He was being cautious, it was way too easy to notice that, and unfortunately Fossa picked up on that as well, as he grabbed his ankle when he went to deliver the attack and flung him to the side of the deck. The moment Marco felt himself coursing through the air he activated his Devil fruit ability and expanded his wings, stopping himself from doing a face plant on the deck. He barely turned before the hilt of the katana connected with his forehead. His back connected with the deck harshly, and he heard Ace`s call before he made up his mind to attack Fossa with all his might. He turned into a full on Phoenix before something not far away grabbed his attention. A marine ship was coming at them. Thankful for the distraction he turned into human again and alerted the crew, so they had time to get into defensive or offensive stances before it got close enough for marines to start invading the deck. Marco ignored the ringing in his ears and the rhythmic pounding in his head and started attacking, automatically activating his regenerating ability. The Marines proved to be difficult, probably used to going after Yonkous, but they weren`t good enough to beat the strongest pirate crew.

The fight kept going on for a while, and Ace kept his attention half focused on Marco all the time. He didn`t like the glazed look that was in the Phoenix eyes when he alerted them of the marines, even though Marco would have probably regenerated by now. His red flames had taken out a great deal of marines, and he was taking out another batch when Newgate himself came out of the massive doors that lead to the inside of the ship. He helped them and in a matter of minutes the fight was over. Ace moved so that he was standing next to Marco and Thatch as their captain ordered them to clean the deck. Everybody obeyed and started to clean the deck. Some of the marines that were still alive got on their ship and left, and their captain gathered them together to tell them something. Ace allowed himself to focus on what Pops was telling them as Marco seemed fine enough, until something whizzed past his head and jammed straight into Marco`s neck. The blonde staggered a few steps sideways into Thatch before dropping to the deck, unconscious. Thatch dropped down next to him as Ace turned his head to stare at the fog that the Marine ship had disappeared into. He knew they had done this, the seagull on the side of the dart was proof enough. He saw what seemed like a sail and threw a fireball at it, smirking when the whole sail caught on fire. After he was sure that they would not fire anymore darts Ace dropped on his knees next to the fallen phoenix and easily took the dart out of his neck, taking a small sniff to see what had caused his friend to drop so suddenly.

"It`s seawater you idiot," a weak voice from his lap confirmed his musings.  
"You`re still conscious!" Thatch stated the obvious.  
"No shit Sherlock..." Ace said, his face a little red form the fact that he had a conscious Marco on his lap.  
"Not for long..." someone commented, as Marco`s eyes started to drift shut.  
"Bring him to the infirmary," Mike, one of the ship many doctors said, before going to set the large infirmary himself.  
"I`ll take him," Ace told Thatch, easily scooping up Marco bridal style and carrying the still phoenix to the infirmary.  
"How the hell is he shivering? He`s made up of flames for God`s sake!" Ace commented when Marco shivered and unconsciously snuggled to Ace.  
"Sea water is messing with his system, it will be over when the sea water is not in his system anymore," Mike explained gently, pulling back the covers of one of the beds and helping Ace lay down the oblivious blonde in it.

After tucking the blanket around him Mike ushered Ace out and locked the doors, effectively keeping the fire user out so that he won`t bother Marco. Ace pouted for a while then went to find Thatch, easily finding him next to the railing. The second he relaxed next to him Thatch barricaded him with questions on Marco and Ace managed to calm him down a little before telling him that Marco should be fine if he rested, to which Thatch gave a loud snort.

"We`re going to have to cuff him to the bed if Mike orders him to stay in bed," Thatch joked.  
"That can be easily arranged," Ace joked as well as they waited until dinner was served.

For two days the whole crew took turns in watching Marco in case he woke up, and with every passing day, the crew was becoming more anxious. Even whitebeard was worried, if the double amount in sake drinking was an indication. Thatch and Ace were watching him when he decided to wake up, and being Marco, he wasn`t about to wake up calmly. Currently, Ace was holding the Phoenix down as he struggled in bed, while Thatch tried to calm him down. It was about three minutes later when Marco finally opened his bright blue eyes, taking in a shaky breath as he relaxed under their hands.

"You okay there Marco?" Ace asked, one hand still resting on Marco`s forearm.  
"Yeah. What happened? How did I end up here?" Marco asked, his brow furrowing.  
"We were in a fight with the marines.." Thatch started.  
"I remember that.." Marco said.  
"Then, when they left, they fired a dart or something, it got in your neck.." Ace continued.  
"Sea water... That still doesn`t explain how I got here," Marco said.  
"You passed out, so Ace carried you here. You`ve been unconscious for two days for God`s sake!" Thatch said, causing the phoenix to spit all the water he was drinking back into the glass.  
"Two days?" Apparently he didn`t care about Ace carrying him.  
"Yeah, now I`m going to go grab Mike," Thatch said, before fleeing the room.  
"You had us all worried mate," Ace said, his voice unnaturally quiet.  
"Sorry, thanks for bringing me here," Marco responded.  
"No need to be sorry, it`s not like it was your fault." Ace shrugged as Mike came running in.  
"MARCO! How are you feeling?" Mike pushed the fire user out of the way and started checking on the blonde in an instant.  
"I`m fine Mike," Marco stated, wincing when Mike slapped him in the head.  
"Say the truth." Mike chided.  
"It is the truth, I`m fine," Marco said, keeping a cool head even as Mike continued on with his administrations.  
"You`re staying here for the rest of the day, no arguments!" Mike stated.  
"What time is it?" Marco asked.  
"1:30 in the afternoon," Ace said, the cheeky brat grinning when Marco groaned.  
"You try to escape and I`ll cuff you to the bed," Mike said, going out of the infirmary.

To say Marco was bored was an understatement, he was frustratingly bored out of his mind. Ace and Thatch had been called out and he was alone with his thoughts. He had talked to Mike and learned that Fossa had done what he did because he was high on booze. Way too high, and the young lad had pissed him off. It was about 5:00 in the afternoon now, and as a result of some of the sea water still being in his body, he was starting to feel drowsy. It didn`t take long for him to fall asleep, curled up on his side. It was how Ace found him two hours later when he entered the infirmary with dinner on a dish. He chuckled and put the dish down on the nightstand, before quietly shaking Marco awake. The older man opened a pair of bleary eyes at him, silently asking him why he woke him up from his nap. The fire user pointed at the tray and Marco grinned, before sitting up and eating half the food, then dropped asleep again.

When Mike released him the next morning, he fled from the infirmary he hated so much, and pretended not to hear Ace`s and Thatch`s laughter from behind his back. When he learnt what Ace had done to the marine ship, he didn`t say anything, but had directed a small smile at his friend and comrade, silently thanking him. For Everything.

* * *

I wrote this when I was half-asleep, and because I forgot the previous idea I had, (which is being written right now as I remembered it) And it sucks a little, so sorry for that =3 ! I Hope you enjoyed it though :)


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